Lock with perforated plate moving with bolt



P. J. BREWINGTON 3,001,392

LOCK WITH PERFORATED PLATE MOVING WITH BOLT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept. 26, 1961 Filed Feb. 20, 1958 25 26 48155 46 FIG. 2

FlG 34 FIG. 3

INVENTOR. PHIL/P J. BREWl/VGTO/V p 26, 1951 P. J. BREWINGTON 3,001,392

LOCK WITH PERFORATED PLATE MOVING WITH BOLT Filed Feb. 20, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.H

IN VEN TOR. PH/L/P J. s gm/varom United States Patent 3,001,392 LOCK WITH PERFORATED PLATE MOVING WITH BOLT Philip .I. Brewington, 4204 Place Ave., Austin, Tex. Filed Feb. 20, 1958, Ser. No. 716,385 8 Claims. (CI. 70-38) This invention relates to locks generally and to padlocks in particular and has for its principal object the provision of a lock which can he mass-produced requiring that only one single element of the lock be altered together with the key to make the many combinations, all of the other parts being identical for all locks of any one particular type.

A second object of the invention is to provide a retaining plate that keeps the lock mechanism from moving to unlocked position unless the members which prevent movement of the retaining plate are in registry with holes in the plate.

Another object of the invention is to provide a comb formed of a piece of resilient steel and bent into channel shape with spaced fingers on each flange so that when a suitable key is turned in the lock the fingers will be spread so as to be in alinement with the holes in the retaining plate so the latter may slide to unlocked position.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a padlock of the type illustrated which can be manufactured at a low cost and in which no member is fast to the body of the lock which as usual is formed of two halves permanently secured together.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a central section through a lock;

FIG. 2 is a section on line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of FIG. 1, the parts being in locked position;

FIG. 4 is a view of the key;

FIG. 5 is a section on line 5--5 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a partial section from FIG. 2 but on an enlarged scale, the parts being in locked position;

FIG.7 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but showing the parts unlocked and the shackle free to rotate;

FIG. 8 is a section on line 88 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a section on line 9-9 of FIG. 7 and is similar to FIG. 3 except that the parts are shown in unlocked position;

FIG. 10 is a view similar to FIGURES 1 and 7 but showing the shackle cam collar as pressing the bolt to locked position;

FIG. 11 is a bottom plan view of the lock;

FIG. 12 is a horizontal section on line 1212 of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 13 is a vertical section on line 1313 of FIG. 6.

The body 1 is of usual design with cavities to receive the plug or cylinder, the bolt, the bolt operating mechanism, and when the lock is of padlock type as illustrated, the shackle pivot, and the notched end of the shackle. The novelty in this case is primarily in the mechanism operated by the key to release the bolt so that its spring may withdraw it from locked position.

The shackle 4 is pivoted by its hollow end 20 in the cavity or well 47 and is urged upwardly to free position by spring 18 which in locked position holds the bottom of notch 16 against bolt carried by an arm 45 extending radially from main shaft 48 near its rear end 44. The upward movement of the shackle when unlocked is limited by the fiat side of the conical collar 22 striking the top 24 of well 23, the cone camming the bolt 15 into locking position when the shackle 4 is ressed down to the position shown in FIG. 10, the notched end of the shackle then moving from dotted line 42 to the bottom of well 41.

pa C@ this shaft would itself be the bolt and would extend bei 53 but in padlocks the arms 45 and 15 yond the plate permit a less deep well 41 than if the shaft end 44 entered the notch 16 of the shackle. The rear plate 37 does not move except through the tiny amount necessary to keep it in contact with the fingers 11 of the comb 10 as later explained.

The plate 53 is perforated by a series of horizontal slots 51 of uniform size vertically except that each slot is enlarged at 54 to form two vertical slots to fit the two fingers 11 of each pair with such clearance that the plate 53 may readily slide on all of the fingers 11 when the latter are alined with the vertical slots 54. As can be seen from FIGURES 2 and 12 the vertical depth of the fingers 11 is appreciably greater than that of the hori' zontal slots 51- so the plate 53 would be barred from movement by the inaccurate positioning of a single one of the twenty-two fingers, this number being twice the number of parallel slots 51 shown. The plate 53 is secured to shaft 48 in any desired manner, preferably with the shaft end 44 extending through round hole at the top of the plate and having a force lit or being brazed for example.

The rear plate 37 is a rectangular block shorter vertically than the plate 53 but of the same width horizontally. It carries ribs 28, each fitting within one of the slots 51 so as fully to close these slots but not to cover the four auxiliary notches 54. Pad 52 urges ribs 28 against the fingers 11 and therefore confines the plate 53 between the fingers 11 and the rear plate 37 when in locked posi- I The com-b 10 is a stamping of high-grade steel bent' into channel shape as best seen in FIG. 3 with the unslotted portion forming a short base 43 and a portion of each side flange, the longer rear portions being formed into elongated teeth or fingers base 43 could be secured to the body 1 if desired but this is not necessary as there is no tendency of the comb to change position as it is urged forwardly by the front plate 53 pressed by the spring 55 and also by the ribs 28 of the rear plate 37 backed by the resilient pad 52.

The tendency of the fingers 11 to contact at their free ends causes them to touch the side surface of the shaft 33 of the rotating plug or cylinder 49'having an annular restraining flange 32. The plug has the usual key slot 31 preferably with a groove 34 to receive the guide or ward rib 35 on the key 7. It might be noted that any key that can be pushed into the key slot 31 will turn freely with the cylinder, also that if a key is broken in the lock the broken may readily be jarred out as it is not gripped when in locked position as illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 3.

The key 7 is flat on both sides except for the guide 35 and its bits 29 are spaced to engage the eleven fingers 11 on each side to cam them from locked position in FIG. 3 to unlocked position in FIG. 9 where the fingers are all in line with the auxiliary slots 54 and the plate 53 has moved forwardly away from the ribs 28. The slots 54 are wide enough horizontally to permit such movement.

In FIG. 12 if we assume that all other fingers are correctly positioned to allow the front plate 53 to move forward (downwardly in this figure) to carry the main shaft 48 and bolt 15 to unlocked position, the two fingers by spaced slots 27. The

moved into registry with the right enlargement 54 and the left finger is moved to be received in the similar vertically enlarged spaces 54, the front plate 53 moves forwardlunder the urge of spring 55 until it moves across space 50 and hits the opposite wall of the body as the vertical arm 45 strikes wall 46, the bolt point 17 clears the' notch 16, and the point of sloping face 26 of the shaft moves to or against the pivot portion of hasp 4. Since the fingers 11 still touch the ribs 28 the rear plate 37 does not move. In FIG. 13 the two upper ribs 28- are shown as engaging the fingers 11 which are in locked position; that is they are, as in FIG. 3, held apart by the smaller cylinder or shaft 33 of plug 49. The upper slot 54 is bisected by the cutting plane so a small space appears both above and below the upper rib 28 while the next lower rib 28 fits snugly the vertically narrower long horizontal slot 51. When the key 7 is turned 90 (from FIG. 3 to FIG. 9) the four fingers shown in FIG. 6 are unequally cammed outward to bring them into registry with the four slots 54 whereupon the front or retaining plate 53 moves toward the observer in FIG. 6, downward in FIG. 12, and to the left or forward in FIG. 13.

The operation is as follows: The key 7 is inserted and turned 90". This cams all of the fingers 11 of the comb 1-0 from contact with the small cylinder 33 of plug 49 and into registry with the vertical slots 54 in the movable plate 53, the finger tips however remaining in contact with the many parallel ribs 28 extending from relatively stationary rear plate 37 through slots 51 in retaining plate 53'. The latter, fast to bolt 48, unged by spring 55, moves to the left (forward) as in the figures, sliding a short distance equal to space 56 as seen in FZGURE 13, on the fingers 11 freeing the locked portion, here the notched free end of a shackle. To lock, one merely presses the shackle 4 from dotted position in FIG. 10, the annular cam collar 22 compressing springs 55 and 18, also moving plate 53 to the rear thus freeing all of the fingers from slots 54- and allowing them to resiliently engage the cylinder 33.

The terms horizontal, forwardly, vertical, etc. are used solely for convenience in describing the look as illustrated in the drawings.

. What I claim is:

1. In a lock of the type having a spring pressed bolt, the combination with a retaining plate extending at right angles to the axis of the bolt, said plate moving at all times with the bolt and having a series of spaced openings therein, of a channel-shaped comb with two side flanges each having an integral series of spaced resilient fingers equal in number to the openings, each finger having a cross section sufiiciently small so as to permit the finger to slide within its respective opening and adapted to be moved laterally by a key so that each finger is in alinement with its respective opening whereupon the plate slides on the fingers and the bolt is withdrawn by urge of its spring, a revolving member located between the two side flanges of the comb and turning with the key to limit inward resilient movement of the fingers, and means to move the bolt against the urge of the spring.

2. The device of claim 1 in which the member is a portion of a key-receiving plug, and the key has bits extending laterally beyond the member to cam the fingers outwardly to aline them with the openings.

3. The device of claim 2 in which the openings are vertical extensions of parallel horizontal slots, the upper and lower margins of the slots engaging the tips of the fingers.

4. In combination, a lock body having a chamber therein, a comb having a pair of series of spaced fingers, a retaining plate slidable in said chamber and having openings therein to receive the fingers when spread by a suitable key, means within the chamber for holding the comb in position while the fingers are being spread, a springepressed locking member, and means rigidly securing the plate to the locking member, and means for mov-:

ing the locking member in opposition to its spring.

5. The combination with a padlock of the type having a pivoted hasp with a notch in one end to be engaged by a bolt, of a plate having a plurality of parallel narrow slots therein each with opposed transverse extensions, said plate being movable at all times with the bolt, a comb having moved by a key into registry with said extensions so that the plate may slide on said fingers, and means for moving the bolt to lock and to unlock the hasp.

6. In the operating mechanism for a bolt, a plate movable with the boltand having a series of horizontal slots, each enlarged vertically by extensions, a stationary plate having extended ribs each closing the slots but not extending into the extensions, a plurality of resilient fingers having tips engaging both the ribs and at least one margin of the slots, and means for sliding the bolt in opposite directions.

7. The mechanism of claim 6- in which the fingers are portions of a channel-shaped comb anda resilient pad behind the stationary plate holds the ribs in contact with the fingers.

8. Ina padlock, a U-shapedshackle having a pivoted portion in one arm and a shackle notch in the other arm, a spring urging the shackle to unlocked position, a main shaft, a bolt carried by said shaft and urged to unlocked position by a second spring, a retaining plate secured transversely to the main shaft, a plurality of key-operated fingers the tips of which are movable across the retaining plate, said plate having the tips of the fingers so that the plate may slide under urge of said second spring when the fingers are alined with the openings, a key having hits, a plug through which the key bits may extend to engage the fingers as the plug is rotated, and a conical collar on the pivot portion of the shackle to cam the main shaft, the bolt, and the re taining plate to locked position against the urge of said shackle spring when the shackle is pressed downward to bring the shackle notch into registry with the bolt carried by the main shaft.

. References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 122,666 Seeger' Jan. 6, 1872 725,381 Townsend Apr. 14, 1903 1,826,133 Hatch Oct. 6, 1931 1,876,893 FitzGerald Sept. 13, 1932 2,460,551 Swanson Feb. 1, 1949 2,497,619 Mass Feb. 14, 1950 2,666,322 Uher Jan. 19, 1954 2,808,717 Jacobi Oct. 8, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 357,936 Germany- Sept. 4, 1922 894,135 France Mar. '6, 1944 a plurality of spaced fingers adapted to be openings therein to receive 

